Purpose. Preapplication meetings provide an early opportunity for staff and applicants to discuss the procedures, standards and regulations required for approval under this chapter.

Applicability. Preapplication meetings are required whenever the provisions of this chapter expressly state that they are required. They are encouraged in all cases.

Scheduling. Preapplication meetings must be scheduled with the Planning and Zoning Administrator.

Guidelines. The Planning and Zoning Administrator is authorized to establish guidelines for preapplication meetings, including information to be provided and any available alternatives to face-to-face meetings, such as telephone conversations and email correspondence.

Applicability. The application and fee provisions of this subsection apply to zoning applications filed by eligible applicants.

Eligible applicants. When the procedures of this article allow an application to be filed by an eligible applicant, such application must be submitted by, or on behalf of, a person, firm, corporation or organization that has one or more of the following interests that are specifically enforceable in the land that is subject to the application:

Form of application. Applications required under this chapter must be submitted in a form and in such numbers as required by the official responsible for accepting the application. Applications must include materials and information to assist authorized review and decisionmaking bodies in their consideration of the application, including at least the following:

Fees and notification costs. All applications filed by property owners must be accompanied by the application fee that has been established by the Village Board. Application filing fees are intended to cover the cost of providing public hearing notices and other costs related to reviewing and processing applications. Such fees are nonrefundable and may include late fees, penalties, and fees for expedited processing.

Completeness, accuracy and sufficiency.

Neighbor communications are encouraged by the Board of Appeals, Plan Commission and Village Board to help:

Applicants are responsible for carrying out any neighbor communications and are encouraged to submit a summary of any neighbor communication activities at or before the first required public hearing. The recommended content of such summaries is as follows:

Published notice. Whenever the provisions of this chapter require that published notice be provided, the notice must be published in the Village's official newspaper in accordance with Ch. 985, Wis. Stats.

Mailed notice.

Posted notice. Whenever the provisions of this chapter require that notice signs be posted, at least one notice sign must be posted on each public street frontage abutting the subject property in locations plainly visible to passersby. If the subject application includes an area with more than 1,000 feet of street frontage on a single street, at least one sign must be posted for each 1,000 feet of street frontage or fraction thereof on that street.

Courtesy notices. In addition to the forms of notice required to be provided by this chapter, the Village may elect to provide additional forms of courtesy notification by, for example, mailing notice to neighborhood or business organizations, posting notice signs on or near the subject property, posting notices in Village Hall or other government buildings or providing notice via the internet.

Content of notices. All required hearing notices must:

Constructive notice.

The body conducting the hearing is authorized to establish reasonable rules and regulations governing the conduct of hearings and the presentation of information and comments.

Once commenced, a public hearing may be continued by the hearing body. No renotification is required if the continuance is set for a specified date and time and that date and time is announced at the time of the continuance.

If a public hearing is continued or postponed for an indefinite period of time from the date of the originally scheduled public hearing, new public hearing notice must be given before the rescheduled public hearing. If the applicant requests and is granted a continuance or postponement requiring renotification, the body conducting the hearing is authorized to require that the applicant pay any costs of renotification.

In taking action under the procedures of this article, review and decisionmaking bodies must act by simple majority vote of a quorum, unless otherwise expressly stated.

Review and decisionmaking bodies may take any action that is consistent with:

Review and decisionmaking bodies are authorized to continue a public hearing or defer action in order to receive additional information or conduct further deliberations.

Mandatory. Development plans are required (mandatory) for MDP Zoning Map amendments. They are also required for major amendments to existing planned developments (PDs). In acting on mandatory development plans, the Plan Commission is authorized to recommend and the Village Board is authorized to approve use and development limitations that comply with, are more restrictive than or, as may be permitted by the respective base district provisions of this chapter, are less restrictive than the base zoning district regulations and otherwise applicable regulations of this chapter.

Optional. Property owners may elect to submit a development plan with any Zoning Map amendment application. In acting on optional development plans, the Plan Commission is authorized to recommend and the Village Board is authorized to approve use and development limitations that are at least as restrictive or are more restrictive than the base district zoning regulations. Optional development plans may not be used to obtain relief from otherwise applicable Zoning Ordinance regulations.

Required. Site plan approval is required before the issuance of any permits for development or construction on any property included within the boundaries of any approved development plan.

Mandatory development plans. Unless a longer time period or a phasing plan is approved at the time of approval of a mandatory development plan, a complete application for site plan approval must be filed within five years of the date of mandatory development plan approval. If an application for site plan approval is not filed within the time required, no further site plans may be approved for the project until the owner of the subject property has filed the original or amended development plan for re-review and reconsideration by the Plan Commission and Village Board. Such re-review and reconsideration must follow the development plan review procedures of this article. Following re-review and reconsideration, the Plan Commission is authorized to recommend and the Village Board is authorized to approve any of the following actions based on surrounding land use patterns and other relevant information presented at the time of reconsideration by the Plan Commission and Village Board:

Optional development plans. The site plan filing deadline established in Subsection E(2), does not apply to optional development plans.

Minor amendments.

Appeal of development plan minor amendment decisions. An appeal from any development plan minor amendment decision by the Plan Commission may be taken by any person aggrieved by such decision. Appeals are made to the Village Board by filing notice of appeal with the Village Clerk-Treasurer and with the Planning and Zoning Administrator within 10 days of the date of the decision being appealed. The appeal must specify the grounds of the appeal. Upon filing of the notice of appeal, the Plan Commission must transmit to the Village Board, all papers constituting the record in the case, together with the decision of the Plan Commission. The Village Board must notify the applicant and all interested parties of the appeal hearing location, date and time.

Major amendments. Any amendment to an approved development plan that is not authorized as a minor amendment must be processed as a new development plan following the development plan approval procedure of this article, including all requirements for fees, notices and hearings.

Published. Notice of required public hearings on a Zoning Map amendment must be published in accordance with the Class 2 notice requirements of Ch. 985, Wis. Stats.

Mailed. Notice must be mailed to all of the following at least 10 days before required public hearings:

Posted. At least one notice sign must be posted on each public street frontage abutting the subject property at least 10 days before required public hearings.

To aid in review of and decisionmaking on proposed conditional uses, the Plan Commission and Village Board must, at a minimum, evaluate whether the following criteria are met:

The review criteria and standards of this subsection are deemed reasonable and, to the extent practicable, measurable. An applicant's failure to demonstrate, by substantial evidence, that the application and all applicable requirements in this chapter and conditions established by the Village relating to the conditional use are or will be satisfied constitute grounds to deny the conditional use. At all times the burden of proof to demonstrate satisfaction of these criteria remains with the applicant.

Any conditions or requirements imposed must be:

Implement community policies on physical development;

Provide for efficient, rational allocation of scarce facilities and resources;

Promote economy and efficiency in the provision and improvement of municipal services through the regulation of development; and

Ensure the orderliness, quality and character of the development of property in the Village, prevent foreclosure of future development opportunities, and facilitate coordination of land usage with planned and available facilities and resources.

Administrative site plans. All site plan applications that are not classified as a public hearing site plan are referred to as "administrative site plans" and follow a one-step approval process: review and final action by the Planning and Zoning Administrator.

Public hearing site plans. All site plan applications that request a public hearing design exception (See § 475-1107.) are referred to as "public hearing site plans" and follow a three-step approval process: 1) review and recommendation by the Planning and Zoning Administrator; 2) review and recommendation by the Plan Commission; 3) review, public hearing, and final action by the Village Board.

General. Following receipt of a complete application, the Planning and Zoning Administrator must promptly distribute the application for review by any Village departments and external agencies who have regulatory responsibility or related interests in the review of the proposed site plan.

Administrative site plans.

Public hearing site plans.

A building permit has been issued (if required);

The use or structure has been lawfully established; or

A different lapse of approval period or point of expiration has been expressly established by the decisionmaking body.

No permit may be issued for any development requiring site plan approval until a site plan has been submitted and approved for such development in accordance with this section.

No permanent certificate of occupancy may be issued for such development until all terms and conditions of the approved site plan have been satisfactorily completed or provided for.

Construction, grading, or other development activities may be carried out only in compliance with the approved site plan.

When a site plan has been approved for property pursuant to this section, the property must be used and maintained in compliance with the approved site plan. No person may use property in a manner or physical condition that does not conform to the approved site plan for such property.

Site plans approved with conditions must be resubmitted to the Planning and Zoning Administrator, who must review the plan to determine if all required changes have been made. The Planning and Zoning Administrator must act on all resubmitted public hearing site plans within 15 business days of their receipt.

If the Planning and Zoning Administrator determines that the site plan does not comply with conditions imposed by the decisionmaking body, the applicant may elect to either:

Complies with all applicable Zoning Ordinance regulations;

Does not violate any terms of conditions imposed by the decisionmaking body; and

Is not likely to create any additional adverse impacts on surrounding property owners or the general public.

The applicant may appeal any interpretation or final decision of the Planning and Zoning Administrator related to the site plan procedures of this section (§ 475-1106) by filing a written notice of and reasons for the appeal with the Planning and Zoning Administrator no later than 30 days after the date of the action from which the appeal is sought.

All appeals of interpretations or final decisions of the Planning and Zoning Administrator related to the site plan procedures of this section (§ 475-1106) must be placed on the agenda of the Plan Commission within 30 days of the date that written notice of the appeal was filed with the Planning and Zoning Administrator unless the applicant agrees to an extension of time for Plan Commission action.

Minor, staff-approved exceptions, referred to as "administrative design exceptions"; and

More significant exceptions, which must be reviewed and approved by the Village Board after review and recommendation by the Plan Commission; referred to as "public hearing design exceptions."

Burden of proof or persuasion. The burden is on the applicant to demonstrate that the requested exception meets the criteria for approval or demonstrates that the result of the exception would equal or exceed the results of strict compliance with the subject regulation.

Applications. Requested exceptions must be noted on the required application and plan, and the application must include a written statement describing why the exception is necessary and all efforts to mitigate any adverse impacts resulting from a grant of the exception.

Build-to zone. Increase or decrease any build-to zone requirement by 25% or two feet, whichever is greater.

Primary frontage lot line coverage. Decrease the minimum primary frontage lot line coverage requirement by 15% or three feet, whichever is greater.

Building setbacks. Decrease any setback by up to 15% or one foot, whichever is greater.

Building coverage. Increase the maximum total impervious coverage allowance by up to 15%, provided that such increase does not result in impervious coverage that exceeds the total permitted impervious plus semipervious coverage.

Height. Increase the minimum or maximum height for any story by up to one foot.

Occupied space. Reduce the minimum depth of required occupied space by up to 15% or approve unoccupied space on up to 20% of the frontage.

Transparency. Reduce minimum transparency requirements by up to 15%.

Other measurements. Reduce or increase by up to 10% any minimum requirements of Article III, Article V, § 475-901, or 475-902 that are expressed as a dimension or distance.

Other defined administrative design exceptions. Modify building type regulations of Article III and building design regulations of Article IX that are expressly identified as eligible administrative design exceptions within the text of this chapter.

The Village Board is authorized to approve requests for relief from strict compliance with the regulations of Article III, Article V, § 475-901 or 475-902 that are not expressly authorized for processing as administrative design exceptions and to hear and decide appeals of the Planning and Zoning Administrator's decision on any administrative design exception. The Plan Commission is responsible for reviewing and making a recommendation on public hearing design exceptions before the Village Board's action to approve or deny the exception.

The Village Board's decision to approve or deny a request for a public hearing design exception must be based on a determination of whether:

Permit a principal use in a zoning district that is not otherwise allowed in that zoning district (i.e., use variances are prohibited);

Waive, modify or amend any definition or use classification;

Waive, modify or otherwise vary any of the review and approval procedures;

Waive, vary, modify or otherwise override a condition of approval or requirement imposed by an authorized decisionmaking body or the state or federal government;

Waive, vary or modify applicable minimum lot area per unit (density) standards. (Note: This provision is not intended to prohibit variances of minimum lot area requirements for individual lots.);

Waive, vary or modify provisions over which jurisdiction for exceptions or other modifications is assigned to another decisionmaking body; or

Waive, vary or modify provisions for which variances are expressly prohibited.

Notice of the Board of Appeals' required hearing on a variance application must be published in accordance with Ch. 985, Wis. Stats.

Notice must be mailed to all of the following at least 10 days before the Board of Appeals' required hearing:

The Board of Appeals must hold a hearing to consider the variance request.

Following the close of the hearing, the Board of Appeals must make findings of fact and act to approve the requested variance, approve the variance with modifications and/or conditions, or deny the variance request based on the review criteria and standards of § 475-1108H.

Strict compliance with applicable Zoning Ordinance regulations impose an unnecessary hardship preventing use of the subject property for a permitted purpose or rendering compliance with the subject regulations unnecessarily burdensome;

The unnecessary hardship is due to conditions unique to the subject property that do not apply generally to other properties in the same zoning district;

The variance is the minimum variance needed to relieve the unnecessary hardship;

The variance will not create substantial detriment to adjacent property;

The proposed variance will not result in substantial or undue adverse impact on the character of the neighborhood or other matters effecting the public health, safety, or general welfare; and

The difficulty or hardship was not created by an individual who has a present interest in the subject property.

A building permit has been issued (if required);

The use or structure has been lawfully established; or

A different lapse of approval period or point of expiration has been expressly established by the Board of Appeals.

Day-to-day responsibility for administering and interpreting the provisions of this chapter, including the Zoning Map, rests with the Planning and Zoning Administrator, whose decisions may be appealed to the Board of Appeals, in accordance with the procedures of § 475-1110.

Occasionally, the Zoning Ordinance may not sufficiently address an issue that arises in administering or interpreting its provisions. In those cases, the Planning and Zoning Administrator may elect to issue or a citizen may file an application for a written Zoning Ordinance interpretation to guide in future decisionmaking. The procedures of this section govern the issuance of such written interpretations. The procedures also govern interpretations of the terms of approved site plans.

Notice of the Board of Appeals' required hearing on an appeal of an administrative decision must be published in accordance with Ch. 985, Wis. Stats.

Notice must be mailed to the subject property owner at least 10 days before the Board of Appeals' required hearing.

The Board of Appeals must hold a hearing to consider the appeal.

Following the close of the hearing, the Board of Appeals must take action on the appeal. The Board's decision must be supported by written findings of fact.

In exercising the appeal power, the Board of Appeals has all the powers of the administrative official from whom the appeal is taken. The Board of Appeals may affirm or may, upon the concurring vote of a simple majority of Board members present and voting, reverse, wholly or in part, or modify the decision being appealed.

In acting on the appeal, the Board of Appeals must grant to the administrative official's decision a presumption of correctness, placing the burden of persuasion of error on the appellant.